1. Field of the Invention
An arm and brace system for use in page style displays, modular storage units, and similar applications, such as, but not limited to, that used for the display, storage, and handling of rugs and carpets.
2. Description of Related Art
The display, handling, and storage of large goods engender special solutions in keeping with the nature of the merchandise to be sold. Products such as rugs, carpets, drapery fabrics and similar goods have inspired the design and manufacture of special equipment in response to the unique display, handling, and storage problems associated therewith. Showing rugs in particular, raises a number of challenging problems. Rugs are offered and desired in a large variety of qualities, colors, patterns, and sizes. To appeal to the general public, large assortments are generally offered. However the merchant must resolve conflicting issues inherent between the efficient utilization of selling space and the requirement for an effective presentation method. The trade-offs often lead to a solution that is a compromise at best.
Buyers insist on seeing the full rug before making a purchase. Efficiency of space will generally dictate that the rugs be stored and displayed in a compact manner. Two methods are common. The first is as old as the market itself. Selling from piles. To meet the buyer""s demand to see all of the rug and make comparisons between rugs, laborers must be employed by the merchant to manipulate the rug piles. Selling from rug piles has the advantage of allowing the sales person to talk with the buyer and draw the buyer out as to their real needs and desires. It also has the psychological advantage of requiring the buyer to invest their time and sympathy in the sale; thereby helping to build a commitment towards the purchase. The limitations of this method were and are obvious. This is a labor and time intensive sale, a luxury that only makes sense at the high end of the market.
The second method seeks to address the limitations inherent with selling from rug piles, however this solution created new limitations of its own. Rack systems were developed at the end of the 1800""s, such as U.S. Pat. No. 487,110 to Best (1892), which is based upon the concept of page type displays. In the Best invention, rugs hung on pivoting arm and brace assemblies swing back and forth in book fashion and can be viewed quickly and efficiently. The trade off for the merchant and buyer is that the rug must be viewed in an unnatural position, vertically rather than horizontally. In addition, a merchant using the display equipment, has the problem of hanging the rug up, and then getting it back down.
Several attempts have been made to improve upon the swinging rug arm method. All involve schemes that incorporate a feature to raise and lower the rug arm. Various designs were developed in the early 1900""s using some form of rope and pulley system to raise and lower a page style rug arm: U.S. Pat. No. 806,705 to O""Neal (1905); U.S. Pat. No. 1,006,345 to Edwards (1911); U.S. Pat. No. 1,099,345 to Dougherty (1914); U.S. Pat. No. 1,162,989 to Doran (1915); U.S. Pat. No. 1,180,480 to Dougherty (1916), U.S. Pat. No. 1,745,713 to Reed (1930); and U.S. Pat. No. 2,000,336 to Kerr (1935). These solutions had limited commercial success due to some obvious mechanical drawbacks, namely poor space efficiency when compared to fixed rug arms and braces, and physically awkward manually operated rope and pulley mechanics.
Two more recent designs involve the use of power driven equipment to raise and lower the arms. One scheme disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,187,900 to Schneider (1965) and U.S. Pat. No. 3,315,813 to Schneider (1967) uses a massive lift to raise and lower a bank of several display arms using a floating platform and arm pivot support. It requires an elevating mechanism for the platform to be built into the display""s supporting framework. Because the arms must be raised and lowered in multiples rather than individually, the design is cumbersome with multiple rugs folded and draped on the floor in the lowered position, and more limited in space efficiency than the single arm or unit plan design of the present invention. It is also inherently expensive, requiring a heavy electric motor and lifting apparatus for each bank of arms. More recently, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,292,011 to Kostigian (1994), a Canadian company has revived the rope and pulley concepts from the early 1900""s, updating the rope and pulley concept from U.S. Pat. No. 2,000,336 to Kerr (1935) using a wench and cable mechanism, to raise or lower rug arms that display large rugs. The design has had some success in Europe and Canada, but only limited success in the United States due to its expense and poor space efficiency when compared to existing traditional rug arm systems.
The purpose of this invention is to address the issues summarized above, namely: the raising and lowering of rug display arms in a simple, convenient, easy to operate, space efficient, and cost efficient manner. In addition the solution suggests applications beyond rug display .to include adaptations of the arm and brace system for the many items that can benefit from an elevated display or storage position such as: drapery fabrics, beach towels, large sheet goods of any kind, as well as sporting goods like sleeping bags, and even awkward-to-display merchandise like bicycles. When configured in pairs, the invention allows for raising and lowering of storage baskets, shelving, cabinet boxes, and specialty fixtures, thereby expanding its utility even further.
The raising and lowering mechanism of the present invention is incorporated into each arm and brace assembly using a vertical guide assembly to limit arm movement between a position of lowest elevation and a position of highest elevation. Pivoting parallel bars form the bracing that connects the arm and brace assembly to a parallel guide assembly and then to the base of the vertical guide assembly for additional support. Movement of the pivoting parallel bars raises or lowers the arm and brace assembly between its positions of highest and lowest elevation. For lighter weight applications, spring or elastic tension is used to assist in a manual operation of the arm and brace assembly. For heavier applications, a mechanical lift uses a screw drive to provide a secure means of raising and lowering without risk of sudden or unexpected dropping of the arm and brace assembly. Manual or power assisted drives can be used.
Use of the invention allows one person to store, display, and handle large rugs and similarly awkward merchandise or materials, thereby saving labor. Thus, merchants can reduce the labor needed to hang rugs, in addition to the risk of worker injury from climbing and working on ladders. The present invention also allows rugs or other materials to be easily and promptly lowered for horizontal viewing or access, and then expediently raised back up for display and/or storage. The unique parallel brace design of the present invention achieves the same compactness of design (measured by the separation between arms or pivot hole centers) presently available to fixed rug arm and brace systems, thereby offering the added benefits of raising and lowering its arm and brace assemblies without making a sacrifice as to the number of arms, hence rugs, the merchant is able to store and display in a given space. Furthermore, the arm and brace system of the present invention is based on the unit plan, with additional arm and brace assembly units being added as needed to create displays of desired capacities; utilizing mounting fixtures appropriate for the particular installation, be it the commonly used wall mounting fixture, post mounting fixture, or self-standing mounting fixture. The present invention, embodied in pairs, can be used to raise storage baskets, shelving, cabinet boxes, or specialty fixtures such as a bicycle rack for elevated storage and then quickly and easily lower them for access to the same. With this in mind the invention offers utility for general storage applications, in addition to its rug display and storage capability.